Senators helping Richardson get settled into Binghamton job

Luke Richardson receives the keys to his new digs in Binghamton on August 1, but plenty of work has already being done to make his surroundings as comfortable as possible before he moves in.

Richardson, anxious to make his professional head coaching debut with the American Hockey League’s Binghamton Senators next season, has the benefit of working with the organization’s posse of young forward talent. Jakob Silfverberg, Mika Zibanejad, Mike Hoffman, Mark Stone, Shane Prince and Andre Petersson are all battling for two or three openings with the big league Senators. Those who don’t make the cut will begin the season in Binghamton.

In the past week, Senators management has added a couple of necessary ingredients for that development: improving the organizational depth on defence.

On Friday, the Senators re-signed 28-year-old defenceman Andre Benoit, who spent the 2011-12 season with the Moscow Spartak of the Kontinental Hockey League.

For years, Benoit has been a “tweener” of sorts – good enough to be an AHL All-Star, but unable to make the full-time jump to the big leagues. A solid defender with excellent offensive skills, Benoit played eight games with Ottawa in 2010-11 and was a leader behind Binghamton’s 2010-11 Calder Cup winning team.

Earlier in the week, the Senators signed 26-year-old defenceman Tyler Eckford. A four-year minor league veteran with with decent AHL scoring numbers – 10 goals, 15 assists with Portland in 2011-12 – Eckford has also played a handful of big league games with New Jersey.

While the pair clearly don’t represent the sexiest of summer signings or decisions — c’mon Daniel Alfredsson, make a decision, already – they look good to Richardson, who understands the need to have a proper balance of youth and experience in the American Hockey League.

“We do have a big load of young talent, but you can’t just go with all young talent,” says Richardson.

“You have to make sure you do your homework and get the good (veterans). (Benoit) has a great personality. He has been around. He has some experience in Europe. He has all kinds of experiences. Young guys ask a lot of questions and you want to make sure they grow up right, in the right circumstance.”

Richardson says if young players aren’t surrounded properly, they risk not reaching their potential.

“Sometimes you look around and you see some guys with good talent and they’re in and out of the (NHL). If they have the wrong mindset early (in their professional careers), it’s hard to change.”

All that said, Richardson says there are no guarantees about who might end up where following training camp. (Richardson is keeping his fingers crossed that the NHL and the players’ association will be able to produce a new collective bargaining agreement before camps are set to open in mid-September).

In the battle for depth positions on the blue line, Benoit and Eckford figure to be battling with Mark Borowiecki, Patrick Wiercioch and Eric Gryba.

“All those guys are looking at spots opening (with Ottawa) and they want to keep their dreams alive,” Richardson said. “For me, one way or another, it’s about having more depth. If Andre is down there (in Binghamton) for the full year or only part of it, he brings great leadership. We want to bring the best out of all of them and be honest with them. If there’s a flaw in their game, we will work on it.”

In addition to the young forwards in the organization, defencemen Ben Blood and Chris Wideman, both recent college graduates, are already ticketed to start the season in Binghamton.

Senators assistant general manager Tim Murray raves about Benoit, suggesting that he should take pride in helping develop players such as Colin Greening, Erik Condra, Zack Smith and Jim O’Brien, who all went from Calder Cup success to becoming NHL regulars. Like Richardson, Murray said Benoit “is not automatically destined for Binghamton,” but he is on a two-way contract, paying him $650,000 if he’s in the NHL and $300,000 if he’s in the minors.

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